1:14 I hate your new moon festivals and assemblies;
they are a burden
that I am tired of carrying.
1:16 1 Wash! Cleanse yourselves!
Remove your sinful deeds 2
from my sight.
Stop sinning!
1:25 I will attack you; 3
I will purify your metal with flux. 4
I will remove all your slag. 5
10:10 I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, 6
whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s 7 or Samaria’s.
27:5 unless they became my subjects 8
and made peace with me;
let them make peace with me. 9
43:25 I, I am the one who blots out your rebellious deeds for my sake;
your sins I do not remember.
65:3 These people continually and blatantly offend me 10
as they sacrifice in their sacred orchards 11
and burn incense on brick altars. 12
1 sn Having demonstrated the people’s guilt, the Lord calls them to repentance, which will involve concrete action in the socio-economic realm, not mere emotion.
2 sn This phrase refers to Israel’s covenant treachery (cf. Deut 28:10; Jer 4:4; 21:12; 23:2, 22; 25:5; 26:3; 44:22; Hos 9:15; Ps 28:4). In general, the noun ַמעַלְלֵיכֶם (ma’alleykhem) can simply be a reference to deeds, whether good or bad. However, Isaiah always uses it with a negative connotation (cf. 3:8, 10).
1 tn Heb “turn my hand against you.” The second person pronouns in vv. 25-26 are feminine singular. Personified Jerusalem is addressed. The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack,” in Ps 81:15 HT (81:14 ET); Ezek 38:12; Am 1:8; Zech 13:7. In Jer 6:9 it is used of gleaning grapes.
2 tn Heb “I will purify your dross as [with] flux.” “Flux” refers here to minerals added to the metals in a furnace to prevent oxides from forming. For this interpretation of II בֹּר (bor), see HALOT 153 s.v. II בֹּר and 750 s.v. סִיג.
3 sn The metaphor comes from metallurgy; slag is the substance left over after the metallic ore has been refined.
1 tn Heb “Just as my hand found the kingdoms of the idol[s].” The comparison is expanded in v. 11a (note “as”) and completed in v. 11b (note “so”).
2 map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
1 tn Heb “or let him take hold of my refuge.” The subject of the third masculine singular verb form is uncertain. Apparently the symbolic “thorns and briers” are in view, though in v. 4b a feminine singular pronoun was used to refer to them.
2 tc The Hebrew text has, “he makes peace with me, peace he makes with me.” Some contend that two alternative readings are preserved here and one should be deleted. The first has the object שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”) preceding the verb עָשָׂה (’asah, “make”); the second reverses the order. Another option is to retain both statements, although repetitive, to emphasize the need to make peace with Yahweh.
1 tn Heb “the people who provoke me to anger to my face continually.”
2 tn Or “gardens” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
3 tn Or perhaps, “on tiles.”